Richard Réti

Richard Réti
Full name	Richard Réti
Country	Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia

Richard Réti (28 May, 1889, Pezinok (now Slovakia) – 6 June, 1929, Prague) was an ethnic Jewish, Austrian-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. He was born in Pezinok which at the time was in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary. His older brother Rudolph Réti was a noted composer and pianist.

Biography

One of the top players in the world during the 1910s and 1920s, he began his career as a fiercely combinative classical player, favoring openings such as the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4). However, after the end of the First World War, his playing style underwent a radical change, and he became one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism, along with Aron Nimzowitsch and others. Indeed, with the notable exception of Nimzowitsch's acclaimed book My System, he is considered to be the movement's foremost literary contributor. The Réti Opening (1.Nf3) is named after him. Réti famously defeated the world champion José Raúl Capablanca in the New York 1924 chess tournament using this opening – Capablanca's first defeat in eight years, the only one to Réti, and the first since becoming World Champion. Réti was also a notable composer of endgame studies.

In 1925 Réti set, and for a time held, the world record for blindfold chess with twenty-nine games played simultaneously. He won twenty-one of these, drew six, and only lost two.

His writings have also become "classics" in the chess world. Modern Ideas in Chess (1923) and Masters of the Chess Board (1933) are still studied today.

Réti died on June 6, 1929 in Prague of scarlet fever. He is buried in Vienna.

Famous endgame study

Main article: Réti endgame study

Richard Réti, 1921

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to play and draw

Réti composed one of the most famous chess studies, shown in this diagram. It was published in Ostrauer Morgenzeitung 4 December 1921. It seems impossible for the white king to catch the advanced black pawn, while the white pawn can be easily stopped by the black king. The idea of the solution is to move the king to advance on both pawns at the same time using specific properties of the chess geometry.

• 1.Kg7! h4
• 2.Kf6 Kb6 (or 2...h3 3.Ke7 and the white king can support its own pawn)
• 3.Ke5!! (and now the white king comes just in time to the white pawn, or catches the black one)
• 3...h3
• 4.Kd6 and draws.

Notable chess games

• Richard Réti vs Akiba Rubinstein, Karlsbad 1923, King's Indian Attack: General (A11), 1-0 A model game for Réti-type opening.
• Richard Réti vs Jose Raul Capablanca, New York 1924, English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. King's Indian Formation (A15), 1-0 The famous victory over Capablanca.

Publications

• Modern Ideas In Chess (1923)
• Masters Of The Chess Board (1933) ISBN 0-486-23384-7

External links

• Richard Reti player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Edward Winter, The Réti Brothers
• 20 studies of Richard Reti